The IFEAT 2024 Italy Study Tour
21st to 27th January 2024
Calabria and Sicily
REGISTRATION IS OPEN!
IFEAT is pleased to announce its 14th Study Tour to take place in southern Italy from 21st to 27th January 2024 (IST 24), visiting Calabria and Sicily. Over the past decade IFEAT’s Study Tours (STs) have proved to be a great educational experience for the 40 to 50 participants, invariably from over 20 countries.
IFEAT’s recent STs to South Africa and Spain in November 2022 and February 2023 respectively were a great success and more than achieved their objectives. Participation in the IST 24 will be limited to 40 participants, so IFEAT Members are advised to book early, as previous Study Tours were extremely popular and sold out quickly.
Registration will be limited initially to one person per IFEAT Member company. Register quickly to avoid disappointment.
STUDY TOUR OBJECTIVES
The Study Tour to Italy in 2024 has several objectives:
- To gain knowledge of production and processing of citrus – bergamot, clementine, lemon, mandarin, and blood orange – in the major Italian growing regions of Calabria and Sicily.
- To view field cropping, packing and modern distillation plants.
- To learn about the technical advances being made in the distillation and analysing of essential oils and their constituents.
- The growing importance of organic essential oils, their certification and traceability.
- Provide an opportunity for delegates to meet with Italian producers, processors, and exporters. Italy is a major producer and exporter of citrus oils.
- Learn about Italy’s rich history and heritage.
- Allow delegates to meet with other F&F industry professionals, invariably from over 20 countries and a range of occupations.
- To achieve all of this over a period of one week.
WHY ITALY IN JANUARY?
The timing of the tour has been selected to match the harvesting and processing of some of the major aromatic botanicals of Italy. These include lemon, orange, mandarin, clementine, and bergamot. We shall visit several growing areas.
MAP AND ITINERARY
The map below shows the areas of Calabria and Sicily we are visiting.
The itinerary below the map provides a summary of the places and operations that we will visit during this Tour.

Day 1 Reggio Calabria, Calabria
Arrival at Reggio Calabria Airport (REG), also known as Stretto Airport – 8 km from Hotel Excelsior in Reggio Calabria
19:00 Briefing at the hotel
20.30 Welcome dinner
Day 2 Calabria and Sicily
Breakfast and check out Hotel Excelsior
08:00 – 09:20 Travel to Agrumaria Reggina 53 km / 1h 20
09:20 – 11:00 Visit company
11:00 – 11:30 Travel to Capua 1880 7 km/ 0h 20
11:30 – 14:00 Visit company
14:00 – 14:30 Lunch break
14.00 – 17:00 Transfer to San Carlo and visit Capua Company (ACI Bergamot Farm)
17:00 – 18:00 San Carlo – Villa San Giovanni 56.2 km / 1h transfer to ferry
18:40 or 18:55 Ferry (depending on the traffic) to Sicily
19:30 Messina Port and Hotel Royal Messina.
Dinner
Day 3 Sicily – Messina area
Breakfast Hotel Royal Messina
08:30 – 09:30 Transfer to Branca 48,4 km / 1h
09:30 – 12:00 Visit company
12:00 – 13:00 Lunch break
13:00 – 14:00 Transfer to Citrofood 55 km / 1 h
14:00 – 16:30 Visit company
16:30 – 18:15 Transfer to Hotel Royal Messina 102, km / 1h 45
Dinner
Day 4 Sicily – Messina and Syracuse area
Breakfast Hotel Royal Messina and check out
08:20 – 09:00 Travel to University of Messina Faculty of Medicine – 12.1 km / 0h 40
Visit to Chemistry and Health Products Department, world leading centre on analysing essential oil constituents
13:00 – 13:30 Lunch break
13:30 – 14:30 Travel to Simone Gatto – 50.0 km / 1h
14:30 – 17:00 Visit company
17:00 – 20:00 Travel to Hotel Villa Politi Syracuse – 160 km / 3h
Dinner
Day 5 Sicily – Syracuse and Palermo area
Breakfast Hotel Villa Politi and check out
08:30 – 09:00 Travel to Campisi Citrus 10.4 km / 0h 20
09:00 – 11:30 Visit to company
11:30 – 15:45 Travel to Hotel Piazza Borsa, Palermo 270 km / 3h 15
Lunch break during the transfer
Dinner
Day 6 Sicily – Palermo area
08:30 – 09:00 Travel to Agrumaria Corleone 4.6 km / 0h 20
09:00 – 11:00 Visit to company
11:00 – 11:30 Travel to organic packing house in Bagheria 12.8 km/ 0h 30
11:30 – 14:00 Visit organic packing operations
14:00 – 15:00 light lunch
15:00 Transfer to Hotel Piazza Borsa, Palermo
Closing dinner
Day 7: Sicily
Breakfast and check out
Transfer to Palermo Airport
To facilitate visits to orchards and processing operations, delegates may be divided into smaller groups.
There are two airports for delegates arriving and departing from outside the region:
- Start of the IST 24 – Reggio Calabria Airport, (REG) Calabria. Delegates are likely to have to fly into REG from another Italian airport, including Milan and Rome. The distance from REG Airport to the hotel is 8 km.
- Departures at end of IST 24 – Palermo Airport (PMO) also known as Falcone-Borsellino, located 35 km from Palermo. The airport has many national and international flights.
Transfers to and from the arrival and departure hotels can be arranged but are not included in the cost. Information will be provided on transport options and approximate costs as well as information on delegate arrival flights and times to facilitate sharing travel arrangements.
TOUR COSTS AND BOOKING
The cost of the Tour is 3,800 Euros per person.
This includes six nights’ single room accommodation in quality hotels; all programme meals, receptions, and transportation on the six days of field trips, but not airport transfers. IFEAT is not responsible for the cost and booking of flights/travel to and from Lamezia Terme Airport in Calabria or from Palermo Airport in Sicily. This is the responsibility of the individual delegate.
QUALIFICATIONS AND RESTRICTIONS ON PARTICIPATION
Initially participation is restricted to personnel from IFEAT Member companies and initially only one person per Member company will be permitted to attend. To qualify, it is necessary that the Member company has paid its annual membership subscription to date including that current at the time of application for a place on the tour and at the date of the Tour. Delegates must be at least 21 years old at the time of registering. No accompanying persons are permitted. Bookings will be accepted by IFEAT on a first come, first served basis. Delegates will only be registered for the Tour once full payment has been received by IFEAT.
IFEAT
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6th Floor, King’s House
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United Kingdom
Telephone Number: +44 (0) 1707 245826
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